Alessandro de Tullio went flag-to-flag from pole to claim a dominant Indy NXT victory at Portland International Raceway.
The Argentine led all 35 laps in the No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing entry to win by 2.169 seconds around the 12-turn, 1.964-mile natural road course. It marked de Tullio’s second win of the season.
“Yeah, it wasn’t easy,” de Tullio said. “I had to take care of the tires; there was quite a bit of deg there towards the end. I went for the fastest lap at the end, but I didn’t get it by almost nothing. But yeah, it was a good race, the start was a bit gnarly with Lochie (Hughes). He really charged into Turn 1, but we were able to hold that off. We were able to get a good restart after the safety car. The car was great. I can’t thank the whole team enough.”
The Andretti Global duo of Hughes and Max Taylor finished second and third, respectively. Tymek Kucharczyk, driving the #71 entry for HMD Motorsports, finished fourth. Jacob Abel, making his first series appearance since finishing runner-up in the 2024 championship, completed the top five.
The championship picture took another turn as Enzo Fittipaldi (HMD Motorsports) and Nikita Johnson (Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR) finished seventh and eighth, respectively. As a result, Fittipaldi vaulted back into the championship lead, holding a one point lead over Johnson (476-475) with three rounds to go. Kucharczyk sits third in the title race at 18 points back.
The Race
It was a clean start for de Tullio, but there was contact between Andretti teammates - second and third starters - Hughes and Taylor. HMD Motorsports’ Jack Beeton, who started deeper in the field in 14th, spun after contact in Turn 1 but continued on.
On Lap 3, however, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Carson Etter spun on the exit of Turn 12 and brought out the race’s first caution.
The restart came on Lap 5, with de Tullio getting a good jump on Hughes and the rest of the field.
The field began to string out over the next few laps, with the closest battle on track coming between a pair of championship rivals in Fittipaldi and Johnson, in 10th and 11th, respectively.
Myles Rowe (Abel Motorsports) spun moments later in Turn 1 after contact with Niels Koolen (Chip Ganassi Racing) as the two battled for seventh; Rowe fell to 15th while Koolen continued on and took seventh. Race Control handed Koolen a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact.
By Lap 15, the lead for de Tullio stood at 1.8785s over Hughes. Five laps later, de Tullio had extended the margin to 2.5 seconds.
The top five with 15 laps to go were de Tullio, Hughes, Taylor, Kucharczyk, and Abel.
The field remained strung out, with Fittipaldi and Johnson, now running seventh and eighth, continuing to be the closest battle on track.
Hughes closed to 2.6 seconds with three laps remaining and trimmed another 0.3 seconds from the gap one lap later.
In the end, though, De Tullio ultimately controlled the final laps to win by 2.169 seconds over Hughes.
